“Congratulations on your victory in the maze run,” Elowen said at last. “You won it convincingly, I understand.” The polite, impersonal way Theo inclined his head in acknowledgment of the compliment irked her, and she couldn’t resist adding, “Perhaps it almost makes you wish the tournament was real, for the satisfaction.”
“Hardly,” said Theo coolly. “I would have been very reluctant to enter into a marriage of alliance that required me to perform like a dancing animal in order to secure it.”
“How unfortunate for you that my kingdom’s traditions are so damaging to your pride,” Elowen shot back with a snap. “But I thought any reluctance you or I felt had no relevance to this betrothal.”
Theo gave her a sideways look. “I’ve offended you,” he said. “I apologize.”
“I’d rather you didn’t apologize than do so without meaning it,” retorted Elowen.
“Who says I don’t mean it?” Theo demanded.
Elowen made an incredulous noise. “Everything in your manner.”
There was a moment of silence. “I can acknowledge that I’m not skilled in pleasant manners,” Theo said, surprising her with the honesty. “But I didn’t intend to offend you, and my apology was sincere. What you said is perfectly reasonable—our opinions didn’t factor into our betrothal, and I can understand your frustration over that.”
Elowen was silent for a moment, softened by his straight speaking.
“It’s not that I resent our betrothal,” she said slowly. “But I wish I knew you better. I feel that I’m learning daily what you don’t like, but I wish I knew what youdolike.”
“In a woman?” Theo seemed so taken aback that Elowen had to hold in a laugh. It seemed he would have no idea how to answer that particular question, and as his betrothed, she wasn’t sure whether that was depressing or heartening.
“No,” she said, still trying to curb her smile. “I meant in general. Your interests, your preferences.”
“My apologies.” Theo paused, collecting himself. “I enjoy reading. Riding, as we are now.”
She waited, but he said no more.
“That’s all?” she demanded, exasperated. “Don’t you want to get to know each other? Do you have no interest in deepening the connection between us?”
She knew she was speaking more frankly than a proper, decorous princess should, and perhaps that was why his voice was a little stiff when he replied.
“Of course I do. But we’ll have ample time to get to know one another.”
Elowen wasn’t at all satisfied by that answer, and she turned away to hide her irritation. He was so sure of her, and althoughher sense acknowledged he had reason, her heart didn’t appreciate his emotionless confidence.
She came to a stop near the water’s edge, dismounting smoothly and handing off her horse to one of her guards. Moving on foot, and aware of Theo following at a stately pace, she strolled over an arching footbridge that spanned this section of garden.
Elowen paused at the far end of the bridge, leaning over the railing to look down into the water. She was delighted to see a small cluster of tadpoles darting through the shallows, and she moved around the side of the railing, disregarding her gown and kneeling down at the edge of the water. She noticed Theo coming down the bridge behind her, and a foolish, fleeting thought flashed through her head as she tried to imagine his reaction if she were to push him in. She put a hand to her mouth to keep back an almost hysterical giggle that suddenly threatened to emerge. The image defied imagination.
Elowen reached out over the water, trying to get hold of a beautiful water lily of a shockingly bright pink. She was so close, but she couldn’t quite reach it. Her arm simply wasn’t long enough.
She was gripped with an absurd defiance, suddenly unwilling to accept her limitations. She narrowed her eyes, focusing on the movement of a large fish wending its way through the water, and trying to recall her training on accessing Dust stirred by animals. Waving her scarf around would be a simpler means of harnessing magic, but it would be too conspicuous. Elated, she felt the moment the steady trickle of magic entered a deeper layer of her awareness, and she focused her mind on shaping it into a movement enchantment. It was a simple process—the magic had come from movement through the water, and she didn’t have to change its shape to direct it to do the same for a different object. The lily pad on which the pink flower floatedinched nearer to her outstretched fingers. Encouraged, Elowen persisted with her efforts, needing only another moment before the lily pad had slid smoothly within her reach.
She snatched up the flower, standing up and turning around in triumph with it clutched in her hand. She was met with the sight of Theo, much closer than she’d realized, watching her with an expression that was uncomfortably piercing.
“It’s a nymphaea,” she said, clearing her throat in an attempt at nonchalance. “They’re imported from Pulau, and they’re my favorite. The color is so striking, don’t you think?”
“I’m less struck by the color than by your casual use of magic craft,” Theo said bluntly.
Elowen flushed, pulling the flower back toward her. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Theo frowned, and he went up in her estimation when he lowered his voice with a glance at her guards.
“Was I not supposed to see that? Did you really think I wouldn’t notice?”
She sighed. “Yes, to be honest, that’s exactly what I thought. Didn’t you say you weren’t encouraged to study magic?”
“I did,” he said promptly. “And you said the same.”
